Saturday, May 23, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball vs. UIC

Good morning and welcome back to the Pipe Yard for the third day of action for UWM in the Horizon League Tournament.

Another day and another elimination game for the Panthers, this time against UIC, a team that won 3 of 5 from Milwaukee during the regular season. The Flames, the top seed in the tournament, led 6-1 against Wright State last night after six innings, only to see the Raiders storm back for the 7-6 victory. The winner of this game will play them for the tournament championship.

Added perk today, as the Horizon League Network is here for the rest of the event.
David Wilson, the play-by-play voice of Cleveland State, is here to take you through the day.
The HLN is a free service, but you will need to sign up for it. The link is HERE.

Join us for the live blog HERE.
Once again, send any questions you have to me at czills@uwm.edu.

Due to some player health issues with the Flames, the line-ups were a little bit late in arriving...

Four every day starters for UIC are NOT in the line-up. Brandon Harwell (regular 1B) and Jason Ganek (normal 3B) are out, at the hospital with the flu. Nathan Orf, after going 5-for-5 last night and killing the Panthers during the regular season is out with a pulled hamstring. And, Chris Rutta, the normal RF, is out with a concussion after a diving attempt Thursday where he crashed into the fence...

UWM will take to the field like this:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound for the big game, junior Nate Caldwell, making his 6th start of the year.

UIC counters with:
Tony Altavilla (2B0, Andy Leonard (3B), Jake Carr (DH), Brett Schaefer (1B), Rafael Garcia (SS), John Rosinski (LF), Steven Humble (C), Ty Rubio (RF) and Steve McGuiggan (CF).

On the mound, Michael Heesch, 4-0 with a 4.05 ERA.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For updated UWM stats, click HERE.
For UIC game notes, HERE.
For UIC updated stats, HERE.
For Gametracker, click HERE after first pitch.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball vs. Cleveland State

Welcome back to Pipe Yard Stadium...
UWM faces one more elimination game this afternoon and will face Cleveland State, getting underway at 2 p.m. CST. The Vikings knocked off Valparaiso in their first game of the tournament before getting roughed up by UIC last night.

The UWM lineup is:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), DOug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound for the big game, freshman Kyle Schmidt.
He is 3-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 12 games, and this will be his 11th start.

Join us for the live blog HERE and send any questions my way at czills@uwm.edu.

Cleveland State counters with:
Brad Buell (2B), Travis Miller (CF), Ryan Franks (LF), Josh Hungerman (DH), Alex Johnson (RF), Tyler Winn (1B), Jon Foco (3B), Kyle Shaffer (C) and Tom Carter (SS).

On the mound, Nate Dick, who is 4-1 in 9 games this year with a 3.49 ERA.
Nice numbers. This will be just his 5th start of the year.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For CSU's notes, click HERE.
For Gametracker, click HERE after first pitch.

Live Blog: Baseball vs. Valparaiso

Good morning and welcome back to the Pipe Yard for today's Horizon League Tournament action. After yesterday's "debacle", UWM will have it's work cut out for it, as we will now need to win 5 straight games to claim the tourney crown.

Game 1 in that line will be against Valparaiso, a team that took 2 of 3 from Milwaukee during the regular season. The Crusaders lost to Cleveland State in the opener, and then got past Butler yesterday to get to this point...

Join us for the live blog HERE.

If you have any questions today, send them my way at czills@uwm.edu...

We are about 35 minutes from first pitch and the line-ups are in.
Milwaukee is:
Cole Kraft (SS), Shaun Wegner (C), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (1B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound, RHP Brad Lusti, who is 4-4 with a 5.04 ERA through 12 starts in 2009.

Valparasio counters with:
Dan DeBruin (RF), Steven Scoby (LF), Matt Lenski (C), Josh Wallace (3B), Ryan O'Gara (1B), David Klein (DH), Andrew Quinnette (2B), Kyle Gaedele (CF) and Damon McCormick (SS).

On the mound, RHP John Snelton, 3-3 in 10 games with 6 starts.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For Valpo notes, click HERE.
For the Gametracker link, click HERE after first pitch.
Valpo also has a live broadcast, click HERE for that...

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball at Horizon League Tournament vs. Wright State

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Pipe Yard in sunny and warm Lorain, Ohio.

Today's postseason game between the Wright State Raiders and your UWM Panthers is set to start in about 30 minutes. An absolutely gorgeous day to be playing baseball. Milwaukee enters on a nice streak, playing well the final week of the regular season to earn the No. 2 seed in the event.

The Panthers have had great success in the Horizon League Tournament, winning league titles in 1999, 2001 and 2002. In 1999, UWM bounced back from a game one loss to win four-straight games and advance to the NCAA Regional. For the back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, Milwaukee went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament each season. The first of the three crowns came as a No. 2 seed, while the last two were as the No. 1. A year ago, Milwaukee finished runner-up to UIC, missing a return trip to the NCAA Regionals by one win. That marked the 2nd time in 4 years the team placed second.

Once again, if you are following along today and have any questions, feel free to send them my way at czills@uwm.edu.

Join us for the live blog HERE.

The line-ups are in:
The Panthers will be the home team and are:
Cole Kraft (SS), Doug Dekoning (CF), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (C), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (1B), Paul Hoenecke (3B), Johann Andes (RF) and Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound - a bit of a surprise to me - is Andy Hetebrueg...
Andy is 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA this year in 11 starts...

This will be a rematch of the April 11 game: Hetebrueg had allowed no runs, allowed just two hits, had walked none and struck out seven through eight innings that day. WSU rallied late, plating seven runs in the final inning to chase Hetebrueg, before UWM held on for the 8-7 victory.

The Raiders are:
RJ Gundolff (SS), Aaron Field (2B), Jeff Mercer (1B), Casey McGrew (LF), Quentin Cate (3B), Ryan Ashe (CF), Kory Twede (RF), Jake Hibbard (DH) and Garrett Gray (C)

On the mound is Greg Robinson, 1-2 with a 5.57 ERA in 13 games.
This will just be his 4th start of the season , however...

For UWM notes, click HERE.
For WSU notes, click HERE.
For WSU's internet broadcast, featuring SID Greg Campbell, click HERE.
For the Gametracker link, click HERE once the contest gets undeway...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball vs. Northern Illinois

Good evening and welcome to Loves Park, Ill., and to Road Ranger Stadium for tonight's game between the Northern Illinois Huskies and your Milwaukee Panthers. This marks the final non-league game of the regular season for UWM.

We have played them at home (swept a pair), on the road (lost) and now at a neutral site this season, so these teams know each other about as well as any non-conference opponents can...

Road Ranger Stadium is the home of the Frontier League's Rockford RiverHawks ... seems like a pretty nice place. The contest will be the first-ever NCAA Division I game at the stadium. I am curious to see what attendance will end up shaping into.

Join us for the live blog HERE.

Anyways, the line-up for Milwaukee is:
Cole Kraft (SS), Andy Gerhartz (2B), Doug Dekoning (CF), Josh Groves (DH), Dan Buchholz (3B), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (1B), Shaun Wegner (C) and Nino Guerrero (RF) will get the start in the field.

On the mound, junior Nate Caldwell, getting his fifth start of the campaign.

NIU is:
Jones (SS), Minogue (CF), Hood (LF), Reynolds (RF), Behm (C), Behren (DH), White (3B), Etcheverry (1B) and Buonavolonto (2b).

On the mound, Jake Hermsen, 1-1 with an 11.08 ERA in 5 games.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For NIU's game release, click HERE.
For Gametracker, click HERE after the first pitch.

Also, NIU has a radio broadcast available as well. For that, click HERE.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball at Butler

Welcome to Bulldog Park for today's doubleheader between the Butler Bulldogs and your Milwaukee Panthers.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to do a live blog today, as circumstances beyond my control are preventing me from the use of my computer today. The "official stats" computer here in the BU press box is having some "issues", so I have volunteered my computer for use in scoring and Gametracker so that things go well.

Sorry for any inconvenience, and GO PANTHERS!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball Doubleheader at UIC

Good afternoon and welcome to Les Miller Field.

Today's doubleheader between UIC and Milwaukee will play a large role in deciding who will be the regular season Horizon League champion, as the Panthers are in second at 10-6 in league games with the Flames at 13-5.

UWM did take 2 out of 3 this season already...

Join us for the live blog HERE.

For Milwaukee, the line-up looks like this:
Cole Kraft (SS), Johann Andes (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Josh Groves (C), Dan Buchholz (DH), Tim Patzman (LF), Shawn Wozniak (1B), Paul Hoenecke (3B), Andy Gerhartz (2B).

On the mound is Brad Lusti, who is 4-3 with a 5.00 ERA.

UIC is:
Harwell (1B), Orf (C), Carr (LF), Schaefer (DH), Rutta (RF), Ganek (3B), Leondard (SS), McGuiggan (CF) and Altavilla (2B).

Pitching will be Adam Worthington, 3-5 with a 3.23 ERA.

Once again, if you do have any questions during the game, fire them my way at czills@uwm.edu.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For the UIC radio internet broadcast, click HERE.

For Gametracker, click HERE after the first pitch.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Volleyball Updates

A couple of volleyball updates, and both have to do with Iowa State.

First, it looks like the 2009 schedule is now all but complete with the finalization of UWM's trip to Iowa State. Originally the Panthers were to play in a tournament at ISU as a return for the Cyclones coming to Milwaukee last season. But, after ISU made the Elite Eight and with UWM returning nearly its entire team from last season, apparently no other teams were too excited about coming to Ames to take on both the Panthers and Cyclones. So, UWM and ISU will just play each other twice - on a Friday night to open the season and then again on Saturday afternoon. While you would certainly like to see a variety of teams, the unique doubleheader can do nothing but help the Panthers' SOS and RPI.

Now that this is set, I should have the full schedule posted and released on the main site next week.

Meanwhile, UWM will see a familiar face when it heads to Ames, as the Cyclones have hired former Panther start Trudy Vande Berg as an assistant coach. Vande Berg heads to Ames after a stint at Duke. You can read the Iowa State release here.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Live Blog: Baseball at Iowa

Good evening and welcome to tonight's game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and your Milwaukee Panthers. I am joining you from Duane Banks Field here in Iowa City and ready for a beautiful night of baseball.

We arrived around 4 p.m., with a stop at Happy Joe's for a fantastic pizza buffet thrown in for good measure. If you have any questions during today's game, send them my way at czills@uwm.edu. I have the email open during the game and would be more than happy to answer any questions.

Join us on the live blog HERE.

Milwaukee has been playing well of late and will look to improve to 3-1 against the Big Ten this season, as it has already beaten Michigan and Northwestern and lost to then No. 23 Minnesota.

The Panthers are:
Cole Kraft (2B), Johann Andes (RF), Doug Dekoning (CF), Josh Groves (DH), Tim Patzman (LF), Shaun Wegner (C), Shawn Wozniak (1B), Paul Hoenecke (3B) and Andy Gerharzt (2B).

On the mound, junior Nate Caldwell, making his fourth start of the season a good one.

Iowa is:
Muller (CF), Burke (C), Durant (RF), Flanagan (1B), McQuilan (2B), Freie (3B), Keppler (DH), Zeise (SS) and Willis (LF).

On the mound, Zach Kenyon, who is 0-3 with a 12.41 ERA.

First pitch is scheduled for about 15 minutes from now.

For UWM game notes, click HERE.
For Iowa notes, HERE.
For the Gametracker link, click HERE after first pitch.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Panther Track In The Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee track and field program had a nice feature in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today. Mark Stewart did the piece and it's a nice lead-in to the 2009 Horizon League Championships, which start tonight in Lisle, Ill.

His story is here.

My women's preview is here.

My men's preview is here.

And, if you want to follow the meet, the league's championship page for the meet is here.